The Monster
by SNFan99
Summary: Naru never cared about people. She didn't care about how she didn't have parents or she had no family. All that changed when she joined Team Seven. To her, Team Seven became her family and the funny thing about family, things weren't always permanent. The question was, how far would she go to save this family? Would she become the monster they claim or rise above them?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

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><p>Yells and laughter were echoed throughout the streets of Konoha as a young, paint-covered blond-haired girl ran away from a couple of panting chunins, all of whom were glaring at the snickering girl. Spectators shook their head, grimacing as they watched the scene while others just glowered at the laughing girl. Others simply watched as the chunins jumped over the apartment buildings, running as fast as their legs could take them as they tried to grab hold on the sight of the disappearing laughing blond girl. Why were they chasing her? Well the answer to that question lay on the Hokage Mountain, where paint was splattered all over the faces.<p>

"Catch me while you can, suckers!" The blond poke her tongue out at the chunins, grinning ear to ear as they glowered at her comments. The chunins opened their mouths to yell at the girl but blinked their eyes at the lack of sight of the girl. The chunins looked at each other, shaking their heads before splitting up to find the prankster.

The blonde herself was currently hiding behind one of the buildings. She was leaning against the wall, with one hand clutching her stomach and the other covering her mouth. Those chunins weren't a match for her skill! No one was a match for her skill in hiding! With that in mind, she chucked away the buckets of paint before smiling widely at her artwork.

"And they say that this couldn't be done!" She declared to herself. "Shows those idiots in class that I do know what I'm talking about when it comes to escaping the chunins of our village!"

"Oh really, Naru!" A man yelled from behind Naru's back. She stiffened at this sudden yells before turning around to look at the furious man, who now had his hands on his hips as he glared at her. Paling, she opened her mouth to say something to him, maybe an apology or some kind of retort but whatever she had to say was jumbled up when she saw his glare.

"So Iruka-sensei, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in lesson or something?" Naru asked, averting her eyes away from Iruka's glowering look. She chuckled nervously. "I mean ya got a couple of kids to teach, y'know?"

"Don't give me that comment! And the better question to ask is what are you doing here?"

"Well, I think that's pretty obvious," She stood up, twisted her body and was about to begin running but found that she couldn't because Iruka had grabbed her by the collar of her shirt. Crossing her arms, she scowled at him.

"I thought you would learn your lesson on pranking and running away by now," Iruka said, taking out a rope from his pocket. Naru raised her eyebrows at this before grimacing as the hard texture of the rope was snarled around her hands. She thought he would learn by now that no matter how many lectures he would give her, she wasn't going to stop her behavior. He should figure out by now she was a lost cause for not doing any more pranks or catching her every single time meant she would learn.

"By the way Naru, you're going to clean up the Hokage's face after school!"

"I know, Iruka-sensei."

It was a pity how she knew what her punishments were now. There was no more fun in trying to figure out what her punishment was going to be.

Oh well, at least she wasn't going back to the apartment till it was late at night.

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><p>The laughter and snickers of her classmates echoed in the classroom and the corridors as Iruka set her down on the floor. Rubbing her bounded hands, Naru looked down at the floor. She wasn't embarrassed for getting caught but she did have her temper rising at each laugh that was directed at her. If they continued to laugh at her then her temper was going to explode like an explosive tag and she wouldn't be sorry for the unfortunate bastard that was going to be the receiving end of her temper.<p>

She looked around her classmates, all of whom were either smirking, snickering or glaring at her for what she did. Naru shook her head at them before sticking her tongue, causing the intensity of their glares to increase. She struggled to shrug her shoulders at them so she settled in giving them an easy-going smile. If they thought that she cared about what they thought of her then they were dead wrong because who would care about what a bunch of spoiled brats thought of her, huh?

"One hour! We had to chase you for one whole hour, Naru!" Iruka yelled as he glared at tied-up blond-haired girl. Naru simply crossed her legs, removed the smile on her face and replaced it with a glare that matched Iruka's glare. Everyone in the class rolled their eyes, shaking their heads as they waited to hear what Naru had to say to their sensei.

"Well that goes to show how you guys need to step up your game on catching me," Naru retorted. Iruka's eyebrows twitched at her words and he looked ready to strangle her for implying that the chunins of their village were horrible in their job, which they were. She couldn't count the number of times where the chunins had lost her so easily or lost their energy in just half an hour of chasing her.

"Tomorrow is the final exam of the Academy and you've failed the last two times!" Iruka yelled, causing Naru to glower at the reminder. "Idiot! This isn't the time to be causing trouble!"

"Trouble, me? Please, I don't cause trouble, I bring the joy back into the village!" Naru snapped, scowling. "Second of all, I failed for the last two times because of the fucking 'bunshin' jutsu! A jutsu everyone knows that is out of my fucking reach and one that is in my opinion practically useless! Why the hell do you make that exam worth sixty percent of our overall grade huh?"

There was silence in the classroom at her words. Everyone stared at the glowering blond-haired girl before looking at Iruka, who had his hands clenched and eyebrows twitching as he looked down at Naru. Normally, Naru enjoyed that people were staring at her like they were so surprised at her outburst but this time she wasn't happy. How could she be happy when Iruka had given her the reminder that she failed the exams for the last time?

"I don't make the rules, Naru!"

"Well you should protest about the stupidity of the rules!" Naru snapped. "I failed every single time because of that jutsu yet I can do brilliantly when it comes to the theory, taijutsu part of our exams! The rules should state that if a student pass in two out of the three portions of the exams then we passed! Not make seventy percent of our grades on ninjutsu!"

Iruka thinned his lips at her words. Naru twisted her head to look at her classmates, who all gave her looks that implied she was an idiot. If she weren't so tied-up, she would give them the middle finger and tell them that they shouldn't be so smug because none of them would be able to pass well because of the sixty percent on tomorrow's exam. Of course, she was tied-up! And those bastards couldn't be told off!

"Time for a 'henge no jutsu' test! Everyone lined up!"

Everyone groaned at his words before averting their furious gaze at Naru. In the blond's opinion, they all looked like as if they were hoping that the intensity of their glares would burn her up in guilt, which was pretty stupid. She didn't feel guilty because they all deserved it for glaring at her; also their glares weren't anything like the ones that she had seen from their parents.

"By the way, Iruka-sensei you need to untie me now! I can't line up without you untying me!" Naru said, holding up her tied up hands for everyone to see. Iruka sighed and untied the ropes of her hands. Naru rubbed her hands, grimacing at the sight of the rope marks that marked her hands before walking to the back of the line.

She smiled at the glares that the kids in front of her gave while ignoring the heated looks that was directed to her back. Their glares were like spark compared to the glares of Iruka, which always reminded her of roaring flames, hard and harsh but if looked closer then you could see the warmth in them. Naru sighed at these thoughts and took a step forward as Sasuke went forward for Iruka to test him.

"Good! Next up, Uzumaki Naru!"

"This is all your fault, Naru!" A girl from the back of the line yelled. Naru's eyebrows twitched and she turned her body around, scowling at everyone in the line. Her hands were on her hips, a position that everyone in the class knew was where she was going to yell or say something hurtful.

"Screw you! You deserve it for glaring at me and looking all high and mighty!" Naru lips turned into a smirk. "I bet you if that tomorrow exam wasn't seventy percent of our overall grade, you would fail because let us face it! You're no good in theory or taijutsu, all you got running for yourself is the bunshin jutsu!"

"Naru!"

"What? It's true, isn't it?" Iruka thinned his lips and gestured for her to come to the front of the classroom. She rolled her eyes and stood in front of her sensei, straightening her back before looking hard at him. What was the point of this? They both knew that this wasn't going to teach her a lesson or make her learn any manners.

With a sigh, Naru placed her hands into a Ram handseal and closed her eyes as she gathered as much chakra as she could. "Henge!"

Everyone waited in baited breath as they waited for the smoke to disappear. All of them leaned forward, some pushing each other forward while others grimaced, looking as if they had eaten something rotten. Almost all of the students grasped. Others blinked their eyes. A few even rubbed their eyes at the sight in front of them.

In front of them was a perfect replica of Iruka, from the scar of his face right down to his posture. A feat that almost everyone thought that she would never do in her life. They had been expecting her usual jokes, not her actually listening to their sensei about what he told her to do. This had to be some kind of twisted joke.

"Now when I actually do what people tell me to do, I get this reaction!" Naru said as soon as she released the jutsu, looking at her fellow classmates with annoyance. She smiled cheekily at her sensei. "Since I did this without one of my usual tricks, does it mean that I'm off the hook?"

"Nice try, Naru but it doesn't mean that you're not in trouble," Iruka said and this caused the blond-haired girl pouted at him. With a reluctant sigh, she nodded her head and crossed her arms before going back to her seat. She watched with boredom as Iruka kept calling on the next person while at the same time giving her the same disappointed look that she loathed to see.

Why does he keep giving her such looks? It wasn't completely bad that she did pranks or skipped lessons to do them. It was wrong but the alternatives were much more wore. If she didn't do pranks then she would suffocate. Pranking was her attempt of getting free from the cage called loneliness, to get rid of the mountain of anger and frustration that she had. If she didn't get rid of it, she was afraid that she would unleash it on someone.

To a person, who probably didn't deserve to be in the receiving end of her anger and when that happened, she would be no better than the people in this village who despised her.

Her musings were broken at the sound of the bell ringing, signaling to her that it was time to start her long-awaited punishment and to others that it was time to go back home to their loving parents. Putting her feet on the table, she watched blankly as the students scurried out of the classroom. Well most of them scurried, only one person didn't and that was Sasuke.

The guy was taking his own sweet time to go back home; if anything he was walking like a snail to the door. She looked up at the roof when Sasuke gave her a glare, ignoring the silent message that he sent her. It wasn't entirely her fault that Iruka had to test them again; he would have done it anyway if she hadn't gone and done what she did. Besides, the bastard had been provoking her into doing a prank.

How could she stand and watch as people showered him with compliments about how good he was.

"Naru!" Iruka said, putting his hands in her shoulder. Naru turned her head to look at her sensei, nodding her head and jumping off from her seat. He took a deep breath. "You're going to spend the whole of your detention cleaning up the mess that you made."

"I know. It's my responsibility because I was the one who did the prank, I was planning to do it anyway just not today."

"I'm afraid to ask but when were you planning to clean it?"

"Probably tomorrow after the exams were over," Naru admitted as the two of them walked out of the academy. "I would have done it today but since tomorrow were the exams, I would have need time to study…which is pretty useless since I know that if it weren't you who was going to make me clean the mess then it would be Hokage-ojisan."

"Naru, manners."

"Whatever Iruka-sensei," Naru put her hands into her pockets and turned to look at the paint-covered Hokage Mountain. "You sure I really have to clean all of that today? It's going to take such a long time to clean that paint! And you do realize that I've an exam tomorrow!"

"You should have considered that when you decided to paint the Hokage's Mountain, then," Iruka reprimanded. Naru scowled at this before keeping her head down when she saw that everyone in the streets were giving her cold looks. Why her? Why do these blasted villagers give her such cold, despising looks? What has she ever done to them? For as long as she had been alive, they had been giving her looks. Looks that told her that she didn't deserve to live, looks which told her she didn't have the right to walk with them.

Well, who wanted to walk with a bunch of people that treated kids like shit, huh?

They stopped walking when they reached the Hokage Mountain and for the first time since Iruka caught her, Naru looked up to see her handiwork. All four Hokages were painted in a way that she thought suited them. The First Hokage had trees painted on his face along with the sign of peace. The Second Hokage had been decorated with swirling waves and sand along with a wonderful shade of yellow for sunshine. The Third Hokage had been painted with blood pouring out his nose and a couple of appropriately dressed girls surrounding his cheeks, all of whom were giving winks to the pedestrians who bothered to look at them. The Fourth Hokage was probably the best one yet in her opinion.

She had highlighted just how feminine the man had looked, giving him longer eyelashes, putting a blush on his cheek and of course putting red paint on his lips. Naru had actually debated on whether to paint his lips pink or red but finally decided that she did need to give him some form of masculinity. A dead man did deserve to have some dignity didn't he?

"Well!" Iruka said, crossing his arms at her as he took a seat on the First Hokage's nose. "Are you going to start or not? I've all day but the same can't be said for you."

"I'll start now, Iruka-sensei!" Naru said, looking at the bucket and sponge with surprise. She hadn't even noticed that Iruka had already put the two things in front of her already. The man must have wanted her to start this as soon as she can because usually she had to get these things by herself.

Well that meant she had less work to do but meant that she had to spend more time on the Hokage's Mountain.

It took her nearly three hours, before she was able to finish the First, Second and Third Hokage's faces and was now on the Fourth Hokage's face, which was the one that she had spent the most work on. Naru hit her head against the Fourth Hokage's cheek, groaning at how sore her hands felt. The prank hadn't been worth this much pain and she would never use that stupid paint ever again! The next time she was going to use paint; she was going to use one that was easy to clean with!

At least then she wouldn't waste her time with it.

"I won't let you go until everything is as it was before!" Iruka reminded her. He had his hands crossed and his face is twisted into a scowl as he stared at her.

Naru rolled her eyes at him. "So? I don't care. No one is waiting for me at home, you know! When I get back home, I'll come home to an empty apartment and go study in my room for an exam, where I know if I passed then I won't have a parent to tell too!"

"Naru…"

The blonde scowled at the sympathetic look that Iruka was giving her. "Don't look at me like that! I don't want anyone to feel pity for me because I've no parents! I lived fine without having any parents! I'll dare say that my manners are better than some people in the class!"

"Naru, I don't feel pity for you," Naru raised her eyebrows, causing Iruka to rub the back of his neck and averted his eyes from the curious girl. "I was actually going to tell you that as soon as you finish cleaning off the monument that I'll buy you a bowl of ramen."

"Make it three bowls of ramen and I'll consider it," Naru said, smiling at him.

"One."

"Three."

"One."

"Three."

"One."

"One."

"Th-One, nice try Naru! It's one and that's final!"

"A girl can try, can't she?"

The chunin instructor laughed at her words, causing the blond-haired girl to smile. Maybe, this week wasn't really going to be the worse week of her life.

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><p>Iruka gaped and shook his head as he watched his blond-haired student ate a mouth-full of noodles, slurping while she did it. The other girls in his class would never eat like Naru but then again all of them cared about becoming thinner and tried insane ways of becoming thinner. It was actually quite refreshing to see that at least one of the girls in his class didn't care about becoming thinner or about her weight.<p>

"Naru?"

Naru looked up from her bowl of ramen, her face dripping with soup and the sides of her mouth still had a little bit of ramen. She furrowed her eyebrows at him while she took a tissue paper from the counter, rubbing her mouth quite harshly as she stared at him. He didn't exactly blame her for looking curious, he had never gave her any looks like this before.

"Why did you do that to the Hokage Monument, huh? Don't you know who the Hokage are?"

Naru raised her eyebrows further. "Do I look like an idiot? Of course, I know who the hell they are! The Hokage is the leader of our village and are very well-known for being the strongest in the village…like the Third and the Fourth Hokage."

"Then why?"

"I just wanted to blow off some stream and maybe needed to remind the lovely villagers that they need to be aware of our surroundings," Naru admitted as she took another slurp of her food. "If they can't stop a twelve-year-old girl from defacing the Hokage Monument then you can bet your ass that there's something wrong…and well, one day I'll get the title of Hokage and I'm goanna surpass each one of them! If that happens then people will treat me with some fucking respect."

"Naru, language!"

Iruka raised his eyebrows when he saw the pouting expression on Naru's face before rubbing his eyes, hoping that he was imagining this. In all of his years of knowing this girl, she never once gave him this expression. He hadn't even realize just how big the girl's eyes could get or how she looked so innocent with her hurt expression.

"Iruka-sensei, I have a small favor to ask," Naru said as she clapped her two hands together.

Iruka furrowed his eyebrows. "What? You want another bowl of ramen?"

"No…can I try your headband?" Naru asked, widening her eyes and giving him a pleading expression that he wondered if this was really his student. He touched his headband, feeling the shabby cloth as memories of his ninja life rushed through his mind. He shook his head at his thoughts and looked back at his wide-eyed student.

He adjusted his headband, smiling when he saw that it caught the light of the lamp and then stared at his student. "No, this is what you get after you graduate and this is a symbol that you've come to age, Naru and maybe you'll get yours tomorrow."

"I knew those books and rumors about looking wide-eyed and innocent was wrong! Big eyes and a teary expression is just a shit compared to just saying what you want!" Naru grumbled, crossing her arms. Shaking his head, Iruka watched as the blond-haired girl went back in putting the red bandana back around her head. He should have realized that the blonde had been planning to ask from the very beginning.

"You need to work on your language, Naru and act a little bit more ladylike when you're eating your food," Iruka said as Naru put her head on the table with a small frown that decorated her face.

"Sure and all the girls in the class will finally grow some brains and realize that their lovely idol doesn't give a damn about them. That means it ain't going to happen."

Iruka simply shook his head before ordering another bowl of ramen for Naru, who perked up at hearing this. His heart lightened when he saw Naru giving him a full-blown grin and found himself smiling widely when she told him that he was the best sensei in the world.

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><p>Naru's stomach was doing summersaults as she waited for Iruka to start telling them what the exam would be based on. She prayed that if there was such thing called Kami then that the jutsu wouldn't be bunshin but the other two jutsus they had been taught. Anything except the bunshin jutsu would be fine. She would even go for the stupid log jutsu over the clone jutsu. At least then she had a way better chance of passing.<p>

No, she shouldn't be thinking about this.

Glancing around, Naru searched someone in her table whom she could talk to. Her lips curled in a frown when she saw that on her right were a couple of fangirls and scowled when she saw that Sasuke was sitting right beside her. Why her? Why not some guy whom she could actually get along with, huh? Now she had actually had to choose between fangirls or Sasuke? When really, it shouldn't be a contest.

"So teme, are you nervous about the final exams?" Naru asked, breaking the silence in the table. From the corner of her eye, she could make up the interest from the fangirls along with their anger that she was talking to their crush and idol. Maybe, it hadn't been a good idea for her to talk to Sasuke and talk to one of the fangirls instead.

But then, she would have to listen to how cool Sasuke was and she wasn't in the mood to hear his supposed brilliance.

"Hn."

"Why must you always speak in the language of bastard?" Naru complained, shaking her head at him. "Do you know how annoying it is to translate it?"

The raven-haired boy ignored her, looking straight at the blackboard where Iruka was now standing. Naru crossed her arms, stuck out her tongue and turned her attention to her favorite sensei, who now had the attention of every student in the class. It felt weird taking the exams with people her age for once and not with the older students, it was like eating ramen every single day, unusual but not unheard of.

She would know that well because she did eat ramen every single day.

"When you're called into the room, you'll have to do the bunshin no jutsu in order to graduate," Iruka announced. Immediately, students whispered to each other about how easy it was going to be while others simply stared at the whiskered-blond at the front of the class. Naru slammed her head against the hard wood table at this announcement. Her heart was breaking into tiny pieces at this and any hope that she had of passing was slowly dwindling into just a little spark, which was so very different from roaring flames that she had felt when she first woke up.

Maybe this time it would be different, maybe this time she could pass.

Oh who was she kidding? She was going to fail this time!

"Uzumaki Naru!"

Iruka's voice snapped her out of her thoughts and Naru suddenly realized that nearly everyone in the room had a headband around their forehead. She silently groaned at this. It seemed like this year she was going to be the unfortunate person to fail this exam. The blonde looked at Iruka, who was waiting patiently by the door and with a reluctant sigh, she stood up to follow him.

Naru could feel the burning gazes of her classmates as she walked out of the classroom and into her own personal hell. Their stares were horrible and mocking, reminding her that those kids who didn't even really think about becoming a ninja had passed while she, who desperately wanted to become a ninja, would fail. She should be optimistic about it but optimism didn't solve her problem and no amount of training she did help her in her problem.

Her musing was broken when she caught sight of Iruka sitting in the worn-down chair alongside his assistant Mizuki. In front of them was a table filled with a few more shiny headbands, beautiful in their gleam and reminded her of her goal. This was the next step. If she wanted to become Hokage, if she wanted people to treat her with some respect then she must pass this exam. She needed to pass this exam to get to the next step.

"You know what to do, Naru."

The blond-haired girl nodded her head and began producing the hand-seals needed for the jutsu. She could feel her chakra waving as she tried to put enough chakra into the jutsu and she knew from there that this was going to end badly for her. Horribly was even a better word to describe it. She closed her eyes, waving her hand as a cloud of smoke was produced.

When the smoke disappeared, she turned to look at her creation and groaned. The clone that she produced looked nauseating with its pale face, disgruntled body and the fact that it was lying down on the floor looking dead with no pupils and everything. Naru didn't even need to turn around to face Iruka to know that he was displeased. All she needed was that blasted clone to tell her what he was going to say to her.

"You fail, Naru!"

"Iruka, this is her third time and she did create a clone," Mizuki said, staring at the disgusting clone. Naru looked wide-eyed at this and thinned her lips, looking at Iruka and then to Mizuki with curiosity. "We could let her pass."

"No way, Mizuki," Iruka said, shaking his hand at his suggestion. "All the others produce three clones and Naru only created one and it was a useless one."

"That's putting it nicely," Naru muttered, looking at her clone in disgust.

"I can't let her pass."

Naru didn't know why her heart broke at his words or why she felt like punching someone. She had been expecting this from the moment he announced that the jutsu was the bunshin no jutsu. She shouldn't feel like her world had ended or punch Iruka for saying this. The man was only doing his job through that didn't mean she didn't want to yell at him for doing this to her or yell at the examiner board for this.

But what could she do, Iruka's words are law and she knew that this was his final decision.

"I knew this was going to happen, you mentioned the bunshin no jutsu," Naru informed them, looking blankly at the two men who were still debating on what to do with her. "So there's no point in debating on this because let's face it, that clone was pitiful."

"Naru…"

The blonde turned around, unable to face the expression on Iruka's face. She knew a stronger person would face his stare but she was afraid of breaking down in front of him and the last thing, she wanted to do was breakdown. A breakdown meant being emotional, being emotional meant you spilled your secrets and all those things and the last thing she wanted was to be emotional.

* * *

><p>The smiling faces of her classmates taunted her of her failures, reminded her that no matter how good you were in taijutsu or in theory work, it was the ninjutsu portion of the exam that would actually set you apart from the others. Naru tightened her grip on the swing at this thought before gazing at each one of her classmates that passed. Her throat constricted as she listened to the praises the kids got from their parents.<p>

These exams were unfair and cruel. Why should they judge a person by their clones, huh? Why not by the other parts of the exam? What was the point of learning taijutsu or even the theory work if the clones were just going to determine their future? She couldn't understand why those examiners always picked that stupid technique. When would they actually use it, huh? Any scenario she had, told her that enemies would pick up on the deceit.

"Hey that kid…" a woman whispered, glancing at her with endless hatred that just made Naru want to go back to her apartment and curl into a small bad, screaming about the crap that she had to go through.

"Yeah, that's 'the kid' and she's the only one who failed," her friend whispered, curling her lips in disgust. Naru strengthened her grip on the swing and gave a smile at the two women. Showing her sadness would give them more ammo to use against her, something she didn't want to happen. She didn't want to walk through the streets, seeing those self-satisfied smirks of the villagers.

"Well that's a good thing."

"She shouldn't become a shinobi."

Naru gazed out at the smiling faces of the students when they said this, biting her lips to stop the incoming tears that threatened to come out of her eyes. What right did these people had to say this? Those women didn't even know her yet they based their decision on that stupid exam. They should see their own children's behavior before making that judgment, especially if they had daughters. She had worked so goddamn hard to pass while their daughters who barely did any work in their lives, passed.

If anyone didn't deserve to pass, it was those people who didn't work a day in their lives. What did they know of suffering, huh? What did they know about surviving? Those kids had a golden spoon in their mouth since the moment they were born. If anything, they were the ones who didn't deserve to become shinobis.

The harsh words of those women and the gleaming headbands of her classmate just made her want to throw something at them. Made her want to yell at them that they didn't deserve it. This wasn't something she wanted to do. If she was going to avoid it then she need to stop looking at them. Naru nodded her head and was about to leave when she felt a presence behind her. Turning her head around, Naru noticed that it was Mizuki standing behind her. "Naru, why don't you come with me for a bit?"

She knew something was up but she didn't say anything, instead she nodded her head and went with him. Curiosity had always been her weakness and this was no different.

* * *

><p>It was already dark when Naru weaved her way through the Hokage tower. Rumors say that the Hokage tower was the best-guarded place, a testimony that Naru knew was true from the amount of times she had tried to do something to the tower. However after number of attempts, she learnt the safe way into the tower but it wasn't easy. If that was the case then the Hokage would be dead by now but she did know how to undo a seal or at least fool a seal.<p>

Naru grabbed hold of the Hokage office's window and jumped through the gap, landing clumsily on the floor, releasing the jutsu of the guard that she had transformed into. She could do the henge perfectly and could sneak into a well-guarded place yet Iruka wouldn't pass her because of a jutsu. How stupid was that? How many people could claim that they could do this? Not many that was for sure.

She grimaced. She was even starting to sound bitter even in her own mind.

A side door appeared and the Third Hokage appeared.

"What do you think you're doing at my office at this hour, Naru?"

Naru laughed. "Funny story…"

* * *

><p>Naru crossed her legs as she sat down in the grass near the shack that Mizuki had told her to wait. She clutched the scroll as she read the jutsu, drawing circles in the grass as she did so. The first jutsu she read and practiced had been the one jutsu that she hated. The Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. Surprisingly, she had been able to get the hang of it rather quickly and produce a lot of clones, compared to the bunshin no jutsu.<p>

The blonde blinked her eyes when Iruka appeared, looking quite pissed and unhappy to see her. Well it seemed her plan was all for nothing. She tilted her head, glancing around the woods if she could make out Mizuki but saw it was only Iruka. She cursed under her breath. The plan was going to get ruined.

"It seemed you found me," Naru said, rubbing the back of her head. "I've only learned one jutsu."

Iruka frowned at her response and gazed at the bruises on her hands and faces. "You look all worn down, what are you doing here?"

"Never mind that, I'm going to try an amazing jutsu!" Naru smiled brightly at Iruka. "If I can do it, can you please let me graduate?"

Iruka looked wide-eyed at her request before staring numbly at her and then to scroll, looking quite amazed that she had been practicing the whole time. She groaned, feeling the bruises of her back and arms. Practicing that jutsu really had done a number on her.

"Naru, who told you that," Iruka demanded.

"Mizuki-sensei of course, he told me about the scroll and the place too! He told me if I showed you this skill then I'll graduate!"

That was when Mizuki decided to show up. Naru saw him in time but it was Iruka who noticed him first but only when the kunai flew out of the tree. The blonde ducked. Iruka didn't seem to realize that his student had good reflexes and tried to shield her. Naru's eyes widened when she saw that her sensei had been hit but relaxed when she saw that it was his flex vest that took most of the damage.

"Iruka-sensei!" She really didn't want anything bad to happen to her sensei.

Mizuki jumped out of the tree. "Give me the scroll, Naru!"

"Mizuki-sensei?" Naru tilted her head. "What's going on, here?"

"Naru! Whatever happens, don't give him the scroll!" Iruka yelled as he took out the kunai from his vest. "That's a dangerous scroll that has forbidden ninjutsu written in it! Mizuki used you to get his hands on it!"

"Naru, there's no point of you having it," Mizuki smiled darkly, "I'll tell you the truth."

Naru stared at Mizuki with confusion. "What do ya mean the truth?"

Iruka's eyes widened and his face was turning pale as a ghost. The blonde frowned, rubbing her head before looking at Mizuki who had a self-satisfied smirk on his face. What the hell was going on? She thought that things would be simpler then this but everything was going out of order. The only thing that was supposed to be out of order was her! Not this!

"Don't Mizuki!" Iruka yelled, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Twelve years ago, the Kyuubi attacked this village and you and every other kid in this village was told that the Fourth Hokage had killed it but that's wrong."

"It isn't true?" Naru frowned.

"Since that day, a rule was created for this village."

"What rule?"

"This rule wasn't meant to be told to you," Mizuki said, smiling.

"Not to me? What the hell is this rule?"

She found herself shaking when she heard Mizuki's dark laughter and frozen in the spot when his eyes gave her look that told her that this was a horrible rule, a rule that would changed her entire life. "The rule is that nobody is allowed to talk about the fact that you're the Kyuubi no Kitsune."

"Right and I'm the fairy godmother! I'm not the fucking Kyuubi!"

"What?" Iruka and Mizuki hadn't been expecting this comment. They gazed at the blond-haired girl, who had an ugly scowl on her face as she stared at the man in questioned. Her eyes held fury that would make any sane man cower, which was Mizuki did. He cowered in fear as the blonde stalked towards him.

Naru clenched her hands into a fist. "I kinda picked on that a while ago. When a person gets lonely, they start to read and they start to question things. The Kyuubi is a demon, how the fuck was a mortal going to kill one, huh? It sounds badass and all but also sounds like a load of bull. So I read on the ways of defeating a demon…one of them was jinchuuriki."

Iruka looked at her in shock and she shrugged her shoulder. "I read their accounts and everything, the way they're treated is the way I'm being treated so that was my first hint. People calling me secretly the fox brat yeah, another clue but the final nail to the coffin was my birthday. I was born on the same day that stupid fox attacked."

She would have said more if it weren't for the fact that the Anbu appeared, restraining a shocked Mizuki. Naru scowled at the two Anbu, who shot her what appeared to be an apologetic look before taking the man away. She smiled happily, waving her hand as the man was staring at her shock. She glanced at Iruka and shrugged her shoulder.

"Oh yeah, I should show you the technique!" Naru said, snapping the man out of his thoughts.

Iruka stared at her in confusion but his confusion was soon evaporated when Naru produced a Kage Bunshin that looked exactly like her. He glanced at the clone and then to her before looking at her clone again. He shook his head, looking as if he had given up on figuring out what was happening. She didn't blame him. It had been a really tiring day for him…and for her.

"You can do the Kage Bunshin."

"Yup," Naru confirmed.

"Good job, Naru," said one of the Anbu, holding out his hand for her to give him the scroll. She eyed him wearily before reluctantly giving him the scroll. "Now let's return that scroll to the Hokage."

"Do we have to?"

"Naru!"

"Oh all right!"

* * *

><p>"So let me see if I got this right, Naru," Iruka said, taking a sip of his ramen. "Mizuki told you that if you want to graduate then you have to take the scroll but you never believed him because he never seemed like a nice guy to you," she nodded her head, grinning. "So you sneaked into the Hokage tower as a guard to tell the Hokage about this," she again nodded. "He then allowed you to set up a trap and allowed you to learn one jutsu from the scroll."<p>

"Sounds unbelievable, right?"

"You then waited for Mizuki on the spot he told you to wait, and studied the scroll as you did so," she tilted her head and nodded before slurping on her ramen. "You mastered the jutsu in a couple of hours and waited for Mizuki to come." She nodded her head. "That's where I came in. Also, the Hokage promised to make you a genin if you made sure that nothing went wrong. Did I miss anything?'

"Yeah, how the Hokage agreed with me about the stupidity of the exam!"

"I don't make the rules, Naru! Still good job!" Iruka complimented.

"And that's why I say that the exams are stupid!"

"You'll never change."

"You bet your ass, I won't change."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Please tell me what you think


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

**A/N: I would like to thank everyone who had added this story to their favorites and follows as well as reviewing the story. I'm going to try my hardest not to make Naru overpowered or too smart but I should warn you, she's going to be slightly different then Naruto.**

* * *

><p>"Naru, what the hell are you doing here? Only those who passed the exams are supposed to be here and the last time I checked you didn't pass the exam!"<p>

Naru looked up from the table to see her ex-classmate scowling at her, his hands crossed as he tapped his foot. She arched her eyebrow at him before scanning the room. Everyone in her class was staring at her, all of them looked pretty irritated to see her but also confused as to why she was here. The last time they checked, she failed. She adjusted her seating position, staring right back at her irritated classmate.

She had kind of forgotten that no one in the class knew that she had found better way to pass the exams. Did she have to tell them? Or does she go back to having her wonderful nap and continue on with the dream that she had?

"Well!"

"I guess you're right that only those who passed the exam could be here but I'm also right in guessing that if you've the Konoha headband then you can be here," he frowned and she tapped her headband. "So I guess that answers your question on why I'm here."

"B-But how?"

"Where's the fun of me telling you? I want you guys to imagine how but I'll give you a hint, I did another test and you can guess what happen next," Naru smiled like a Cheshire cat at him before putting her head back down on the table. Her eyelids were already dropping and she could almost see that wonderful dream again, with the Hokage's hat and everything. She couldn't wait for that dream to become a reality, and just when her mind was finally lured to the idea of sleep, it was gone.

And it was all thanks to the loud noise that echoed throughout the corridor.

She groaned at this and sat up straight, glaring at the doors, which were now shaking and squeaking as the sound of people stampede becoming louder with each second. Of all the days, she had to put up with this it had to be today. Couldn't there be another day when people do this? She didn't want to get a headache and yell at their sensei. She needed to give him a good impression. Of course, her life wasn't going to be nice to her.

"Hey, will you let me through?" A familiar voice said and Naru looked up from the table, raising her eyebrows when she saw Sakura rushing through the doors. Why was the pink-haired girl making her way to her? They weren't friends or anything so why would she come here? She rubbed her neck as she looked around for any clues that would tell her why the girl would come near her. She hung her head when she noticed that Sasuke was sitting beside her.

That explained everything. She knew of Sakura and of course the other fangirls blatant love for the Uchiha, who didn't? You would have to be living in a cave not to notice how much they adore the young preteen. Why did they like him, she had no clue. She hadn't seen one ounce of niceness from him in her life, never seen him treat the people around him like they were important to him. She couldn't understand their love for him. She probably would never understand.

"Naru! MOVE YOUR FAT ASS! I WANT TO SIT ON THE OTHER SIDE OF YOU!"

Naru frowned. "I was here first, why do I've to move? And you keep speaking to me like that and I won't move my 'fat ass' from this seat. It's very rude, y'know."

Sakura's eyebrows twitched and she was cracking her knuckles, causing Naru to falter. Her hesitance was heightened when she saw the fury in her eyes. That dark look on Sakura's face gave her a horrible feeling. It told her that if she didn't do what she wanted then she would hurt her. She hardened her face at this. No way was she going to allow herself to be pushed around by anyone. Especially a fangirl.

After all, it was time to teach her lesson on not to boss her around.

"You don't scare me Sakura and if you bloody hell think that I'll do what you want because you're furious then you're so wrong. Your anger won't make me change my mind, if anything it makes me want to stay in this seat more," Naru smiled. "But if you wish for me to move, I'll but only if you don't mind me reminding everyone about the _incident_ last year with Sasuke."

Sakura paled at the memory and in the corner of Naru's eyes, she saw Sasuke visibly shuddered at the memory. She grinned. Oh yes, she hadn't only embarrassed Sakura that fateful incident but also Sasuke. Who knew that by accidentally finding Sakura's diary and having the courage to read it out loud in front of everyone would also humiliate him? It wasn't like she knew Sakura would write all of her dreams into that diary, right? Okay, she kind of did know. It wasn't like it was a well-kept secret how the girl, along with the other girls in their class, had an obsession with Sasuke.

"If it makes you feel better, there's a seat on Sasuke's right," Naru tilted her head to the dark-haired boy's right side. She smiled impishly. "I think Sasuke will _love _it if you take that seat before any of the other girls notice it!"

Sakura flickered her eyes to her and then to the empty seat beside Sasuke, looking unsure if she had planned anything on the seat. Naru smiled even wider. If there was something, Naru couldn't deny about Sakura, it was her brains. The girl knew that she wasn't nicest person in the class. Last year, she wouldn't even say this and if she did then she was planning something. Surprisingly, today she hadn't even thought of doing a prank on any of the fangirls.

She would probably do that tomorrow if she weren't on a mission.

Naru shook her head at this thought and turned her head to the blackboard, noticing that Iruka was standing there. Grinning, Naru waved her hand at the teacher, who smiled back at her and gave a small wave back. She looked at Iruka closely, searching for any bruises, limping or anything really that was proof of her sensei still being hurt, anything to strengthened the guilt she had of allowing him to get hurt.

If she saw any proof that he was still hurt then she would do anything to make it up to him, to apologize for her actions.

"Starting today, all of you are real shinobi," Iruka said, snapping her out of her thoughts. She straightened her back, propping her hands against her cheek as she listened to this. This was the speech she had been dreaming about for the last couple years of her life. "But you're still genin, the hard journey that lies ahead has just started."

Iruka surveyed the classroom, smiling when he saw the alert looks on every student's face. His smile was soon replaced with a serious expression. "Now you'll get missions to help the village. So today we'll create the 3-man squad and each squad will have a jounin sensei. In order to succeed, you'll complete your missions and you'll follow your sensei's instruction."

Naru groaned at this. Instructions? She hated instructions, especially the ones that restricted her freedom and made her do things she despised doing. Why it was thanks to instruction that she kept fighting fangirls that were a waste of her time and rarely fought people who were stronger then her. It was thanks to instructions; she couldn't ever punch the fangirls.

"…We tried to balance each team's strength," Iruka said, snapping her out of her thoughts. The blue-eyed girl blinked and blinked her eyes, hoping that the older man was joking but the serious expression and the groans of everyone told her otherwise. Shrugging her shoulders, she decided that she wouldn't make her decision on whom she wanted.

The speech Iruka had given had been long and boring just like any of his speeches and Naru found it a miracle she hadn't slept once through it. Now Iruka was calling out the names. Naru yawned as many names were called and the genins reacted with either enthusiasm or dread, sometimes they even had both reactions. She put her legs on the table, tapping her fingers as she waited for her name to be called. Finally:

"Team Seven: Uzumaki Naru," she stopped tapping her finger and sat up straight. "Haruno Sakura," Naru mentally groaned at this. "And Uchiha Sasuke."

Naru shivered as she felt the intense glare from Sakura. Why her? Why was she stuck with a teammate who hated her and another teammate who barely spoke more then ten words to her? This sucked. She might be able to get along with the pink-haired girl if she wasn't obsessed with Sasuke or if he wasn't in their team but this had to be the case.

But at the same time, she was excited about this team. She couldn't think of a better teammate then those two. Sakura was smart even if her behavior didn't suggest it and admittedly, Sasuke was a pretty good shinobi. He wasn't the top of the year for no reason. With the two of them, she might be able to stomach working with them.

She glanced at Sakura, who was giving her the look that she was keeping an eye on her and found it slightly disheartening. She had been hoping her teammate would be a little bit more enthusiastic with her. They were going to work together for the next couple of years together.

After Iruka gave them the last lecture, it was up to her and her team to wait for their sensei.

* * *

><p>Three hours.<p>

Three whole hours that was how long they waited for their sensei and Naru had checked the clock to make certain she wasn't imagining it. What type of person was late by three hours? It was horrible. She always thought jounins would be on time and everything. Now this sensei proved her wrong. The sensei had even made her think the guy or woman didn't seem to give a damn about them or even particularly liked them.

This wouldn't be so bad if she had friends with her but she had no friends. No one particularly liked her or anything. She was the loner. The outcast. Not the popular kid who had a lot of friends like Sakura or had people hanging around their every word like Sasuke. No one liked her.

"Can't you sit still or do something, Naru?" Sakura said, looking at her with frustration. The pink-haired girl had her hands pressed against the table, a small irritated look on her face while the blonde paced through the floor.

The blue-eyed girl peaked out of the door before looking at her pink-haired teammate with frustration. She gritted her teeth. "Why the fuck is our sensei so goddamn late?!" Naru crossed her arms and continued. "All the other teams already left with their sensei and Iruka left too, we're the only ones here who are stuck here."

"What can we do?"

"Beat him up?" Naru suggested with an easy going smile playing on her lips. "It would make our lives a lot more easier if he was beaten up or if we do a prank."

"We would get into trouble," Sakura pointed out.

"So? He deserves it," Naru said as she picked up a duster from the blackboard. Sakura raised her eyebrow at her, looking curious to see what she was planning to do. Sasuke crossed his arms, not bothering to change from his brooding position. Sometimes Naru wondered if the boy was just a statue. He certainly had the attitude of one and had the looks of one if you asked some of the girls in her year.

She wanted to vomit at that thought. Shaking her head at this, the blonde dragged the chair behind Iruka's desk to the door. Naru closed her eyes as it made scratching noises through the floor. She opened her eyes when she reached her destination and leaned the chair against the worn-down door before climbing on top of it.

"What are you planning Naru?" Sakura asked, tilting her head as she watched her teammate carefully place the blackboard duster against the door. The blonde grinned wildly at her, looking as if she had done something important, looking as if she had saved the world from a monster. In her eyes, this was just as an important as saving the world from the monster.

"That's our sensei punishment for being late!" Naru finally answered as she dragged the chair back behind the table before scanning the room to find anything that would point out she had been the one to do the prank. There was no clue she had been the one to do it so, she had nothing to worry about or lie about.

"I'm not getting involved with this," Sakura said firmly, placing her hand on her hips as she gave her a reprimand look.

"If you say so," Naru went back to her seat and placed her legs on the table, clasping her hands behind her head. Now she felt like she could relax. All she had to do now was wait for their sensei to come and see whether or not he would dodge the blackboard duster. Knowing her luck, he wouldn't be able to dodge it.

It sounded stupid of her to be confident that their sensei wouldn't dodge it but it can't be argued she should be confident of her skill in traps and pranks. Not one person had ever managed to avoid them.

"Hn. Like a jounin would fall for a stupid booby trap," Sasuke said, looking at the relaxed girl with disgust. Naru glared at the boy, jumping up from her seat and stalking over to the boy. No one and she meant no one was allowed to look down at her pranks, not even the Hokage.

Sasuke was going down.

Before she could even launch herself onto Sasuke, the door slowly slid open and time seemed to start to slow down for the three genins. It felt something of a horror movie where you saw the last few moments of a person's life being dragged out or something similar to that in Naru's mind. Her breath hitched as the door slid open even further, causing the duster to being to jiggle.

The blonde grinned.

_THUNK_

The duster had landed on their sensei's head, a cloud chalk dust enveloping the man while a couple of chalk landed on his hair and clothes. For a few seconds, everything was quiet. It was like the whole world had stopped, holding its breath as they waited to see what was about to happen.

The silence was soon broken by Naru's laughter. The blonde had a wild grin and she looked at her dark-haired teammate with smugness. "What did you say about a jounin not falling for a stupid booby trap, huh Sasuke? Our sensei fell for it! He fell for it! Take that bastard!"

Sasuke shot her an irritated look and then looked at their sensei with brooding eyes. It was easy for everyone to see that he wasn't impressed wit him. Not that she blamed him…she had been hoping he would dodge it. Sakura gave her a frown but the blonde could see the glint of satisfaction in her teammate's eyes. This made her smile even wider. At least someone saw the greatness in her pranks unlike a certain teammate who thought her prank was stupid. Like he could come up with anything better.

"I'm so sorry sensei, I tried to stop Naru but…" Sakura said when she finally gotten over her glee. The pink-haired girl was hunching her shoulders, eyes looking regretful and Naru would almost fall for it if she didn't know how the girl hadn't stop her. The girl had practically encouraged her when she said she wasn't involved in it.

Well she couldn't say this to their sensei could she? It would mean telling on Sakura and the last thing she wanted was to be seen as a bitch and snitch. It also didn't help she wanted to get along with her teammate. Telling on her wasn't getting along with her as well as not being nice. Not that she cared about being seen as nice but she didn't want to be seen as being mean.

The silver-haired sensei ignored Sakura's babbling, gazing at the three of them thoughtfully. Naru immediately straightened her back. It felt like he was seizing them up, like he wanted to see if they were worth his precious time. It felt like she was a tiny ant while he was the human could crush them. Their sensei rubbed his cloth-covered chin, eyes closed as if he was smiling at them before looking at them with a smile.

"Hmm…how can I say this?" Their sensei mused, rubbing his chin as he stared at the three of them. "My first impression of the three of you is that I don't like you guys."

Naru hung her head down at this, clenching her hands into a fist. She could feel her anger rising like a wave, threatening to wash over her and take control. It was tempting and she wanted to let herself slam her fist against the man's face but she knew it would do her no good. He was a jounin. He was still in some ways stronger then her, punching him in the face spelled trouble.

It doesn't change the fact she still wanted to punch his face.

"Alright you three, we'll meet at the top of the Academy in five minutes," their sensei said, snapping her out of her thoughts. Naru blinked her eyes and gawked as the man vanished in a puff of smoke. That was so cool. Could she do that? She really wanted to learn how he did it? Could they use fire instead of smoke? She had so many questions about the technique however only one was important to her. Could he teach it to her? It seemed like every shinobi could do it.

"He's a weirdo," Naru muttered. Her teammates nodded their head in agreement.

It wasn't long before the new genins found themselves sitting in front of their Jounin-sensei. The silver-haired man was leaning against the rails, looking as if he had all the time in the world and had absolutely no care he might fall down. Naru wanted to strangle the man for wasting her time, time where she could be training.

"Well, let's begin with introducing yourselves," their mysterious sensei said, clapping his hands together.

"Introductions? We already know each other, you're the one whose name we don't know!" Naru protested. "And you should go first so we know what to do."

The ninja sighed. "Well, my name is Hatake Kakashi. I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislikes…. dreams for the future…hmm…and I have a lot of hobbies."

Twitching her eyebrow and crossing her arm, Sakura leaned closer to her two teammates and whispered, "So all he told us is his name?"

"And that he's one miserable bastard," Naru grumbled, her eyebrows twitching as she gazed angrily at the laid-back sensei. She found this man to be a complete bastard as well as being one mysterious man. A lot of hobbies really? What did he like? Comics? Cooking? Sleeping? Playing Shogi?

Kakashi gave them a one-eyed smile. "Now it's your turn, let's start with the blonde."

Naru blinked her eyes. "Blonde! Really? That's very creative! I'm Uzumaki Naru! I like ramen, art, gardening, Ichiraku ramen…oh and pranks of course, there's nothing wrong with a good prank. What I dislike is waiting three whole minutes for the ramen to cook! Arrogant bastards who think they're better than anyone because of their high grades and because they're stronger. My hobbies are training and pranking. My dream," she adjusted her headband, "is to surpass the Hokage and have the people of this village acknowledge my existence!"

That earned a raised eyebrow from their new sensei.

Sakura thought this was the first time she heard her classmate admit this. Sasuke thought it was pretty informative.

Kakashi's eyes rolled towards Sasuke. "Next is the emo-boy."

"Why didn't I think of that nickname. It's way better then brooding bastard," Naru muttered under her breath, flickering her eyes towards her teammate. This earned her glare from her teammate. She grinned at him.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There're a lot of things I dislike and I don't really like anything," Sasuke placed his hands together, "And…I can't really call it a dream…but I have an ambition. The resurrection of my clan and to kill a certain man."

A shiver tore though Naru's spine. Never had she heard a kid her age wanting to kill someone before. Her teammate was messed up if he wanted to kill someone at this age and what reason would he have of killing someone? The last thing she checked, he had everything he ever needed to be happy.

Sakura was flushed red, not caring about what her teammate and crush had just admitted.

"Ok…and lastly the bubblegum haired girl," Kakashi smiled at the raised eyebrow from Naru. What? It suited the girl all right just like the other names had.

"My name is Haruno Sakura. The thing I like is…well the person I like is," Naru quietly groaned at the flush expression on Sakura's face, realizing what the girl was avoiding to say. "And uhm…my dream for the future…uhm?" she squealed. "OH YEAH! What I dislike is Naru."

Naru furrowed her eyebrows. Was she really that? Sure the prank she had done to her was kind of mean…okay very mean. In her defense, the girl had deserved it. No one got away with calling her a bitch. Everyone in the class knew it was a taboo just like it was a taboo to call Choji fat.

"Well now that we introduce each other, I'll tell you about our first assignment," Kakashi said, flickering his lone eye at the three genin. Naru sat up straight, eyes glinting with eagerness as she waited for his words. Sakura was the same except nervousness replaced her glint while Sasuke didn't seem to have much emotion.

"What's it going to be?" Naru tapped her foot impatiently. "What's it? Come on, you can't leave us in suspense! It isn't nice y'know."

"First we're going to do something with just the four of us."

Naru and Sakura furrowed their eyebrows at him but it was only the blond who voiced out the question. "What is it?"

"Survival training."

Survival training? Naru found herself hunching her back at hearing this. It wasn't going to be protecting some important person or going after bandits or even looking after a couple of brats, it just had to be survival training. Why was it that? They had done a couple in school, not the best kind but it was still survival training.

Surprisingly, it was Sakura who voiced out her thoughts.

"Why is our first duty a training?" Sakura asked. "We've had enough training in the Academy."

"This isn't an normal training…this time I'm your opponent."

Rubbing her chin, Naru stared at the silver-haired man with thoughtfulness as well as curiosity. This wasn't going to be easy. Winning a match against Kakashi wasn't going to be easy. The guy might had not been able to block the eraser but he was still a jounin. Becoming a jounin isn't an easy feat. Not by a long shot.

The question was how was she going to defeat this guy? He was smarter then her. He had more battle experience then her. Hell, he was way stronger then her. Defeating him was going to be a huge problem. If she could trick him then it wouldn't be a problem. If she could find his weakness then it wouldn't be a problem.

The question now…what was it?

How was she going to find out his weakness?

"What's so funny sensei?" Sakura asked, snapping Naru from her thoughts. Scratching her head, the blonde realized Kakashi had been laughing the whole time and not once did she realize it. Damn it, this was going to be a problem. The laughter could have given her a hint on how bad this test was going to be…or if their sensei was even more of a weirdo then she had thought.

"Well…" Kakashi muffled his laughter and Naru found herself twitching at this behavior. She didn't like the way he was underestimating them. "Well, it's just that when I tell you this you guys are going to freak out."

"Why the hell will we be freaking out?" The blond of the team asked, furrowing her eyebrows at him. "It can't be that bad! Try us! We might surprise you!"

"Of the twenty-seven graduates, only nine will be chosen to become genin," Naru and Sakura turned pale at this while Sasuke stiffened at this piece of information. "The rest will be sent back to the Academy. This training is a very difficult exam with a failure rate of sixty-six per cent."

Taking calming breaths, Naru tried to think of the positive of the exam. She could test herself against a jounin and she had always wanted to fight one. Then again, her dream was to become Hokage and how could she become Hokage if she wasn't a shinobi. The chances of them passing was low if the percentage was right and the last thing she wanted was to fail.

There was no way in hell she was going to allow herself be sent back to that hellhole.

"What was the point of the Academy exam then?" Naru clenched her hands into a small fist, trying to control herself from punching the man on the face. "We worked so god-damn hard on those stupid exams and now you're practically telling us that there was no frickin' point in the exam! If that was the case then why bother having them!"

Kakashi shrugged his shoulder. "Oh…that? That was just to select those who have the chance of becoming genin."

"Then they have such a great way of picking the potentials don't they?" Naru asked sarcastically, remembering the questions in the exam. "Seriously, do you remember the questions they ask us? One of them asked us the name of the Hokage? How the hell was that picking the potential of the genin?"

Kakashi curled his lips at her words while Sasuke nodded his head in agreement with her. Sakura looked torn between protesting against her words and just nodding her head. None of them could argue that question in the test had to be one of the most silliest question they ever had.

"Anyways, tomorrow you have to show your real skills on the training ground," Kakashi stated. "Bring all the shinobi tools you have and skip breakfast, you might throw up."

Naru bit her lips and stared up at the sky. The wandering clouds and singing birds were now starting to become annoying. It really didn't reflect the way she felt. Not one bit. How the hell was she going to defeat him? She was a lot of things but a genius she was not and she was definitely not a prodigy. There was no way she could pull a powerful jutsu and defeat him.

She didn't even know any jutsus except for the ones taught in the Academy and the Kage Bunshin.

Damn it, this was going to be a huge problem.

Blinking her eyes, Naru realized Kakashi had already left and she was stuck with her two teammates.

_Teammates…_

Maybe there was a way after all but first she would need to see if she could actually convince them to work together.

"Hey guys, do you want to have lunch together?" Naru asked, stopping her two teammates in their tracks. Sasuke and Sakura turned their bodies around, raising their eyebrows at her or in Sakura's case gawking at her. Naru mentally cursed. She forgot that she had a reputation for being…for being her that was it.

"W-What did you say?"

"I'm asking if you guys want to have lunch together, I'll even pay for it," Naru repeated and Sakura squinted her eyes at her while Sasuke crossed his arms. She sighed. "Look I know I'm not the nicest person, hell I can be quite the jerk too but we're teammates. We need to learn to get along…we also need to know how strengths and weaknesses."

"We're not a team yet you heard Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura pointed out. "Also we need to get ready for tomorrow! We might fail tomorrow's test!"

"We could get ready together and you're right, we're not a team yet but we might be a team if we pass," Naru glanced at Sakura and then Sasuke before looking at the spot where their sensei had been. "So why not learn about ourselves now? Besides we can think of ways of passing the test together."

"Why together?" Sakura asked. "It's going to be like the Academy one isn't it?"

Naru crossed her arms and tilted her head, flickering her eyes at the spot where Kakashi had stood. "We don't know do we? We've got no idea what he's planning to test us…for all we know it might not be like the Academy. It might be even worse. The second fact is this Kakashi is a jounin…do you realize what that means?"

"It means he's strong," Sasuke stated. Sakura's eyes widened as if she just realized their sensei rank and the blonde didn't blame her for forgetting. The little stunt with the blackboard easer didn't make Kakashi seem threatening. If a person couldn't dodge that then how the hell were they strong?

But if there was one thing Naru knew for certain, it was that the Hokage picked his jounins very carefully. He didn't hand the rank to just anyone because if he did then there wouldn't be many chunins and genins in the village.

"We're genins!" Sakura cried out. "H…How are we going to defeat a jounin? We haven't been out in the Academy for long."

"That's what I've been thinking the whole time," Naru admitted. "How the hell can I defeat him? He's stronger then us. He's smarter then us. He has more experience then us. Chances of any of us defeating him is…"

"Zero," Sakura said weakly.

"Why are you pointing it out, dope?" Sasuke asked, staring hard at the blond haired girl. He didn't seem to be too bothered by the fact at what she pointed out and she remembered that Sasuke was smart. He must have realized this too and if he did, why the hell didn't he say anything?

Maybe it was because he was a jerk or he just didn't care.

"Because I ain't smart like Sakura so I can't outwit him," Naru admitted, scowling at the boy. "I don't know any jutsu like you do so I can't use any special jutsu that can make him go on his knees. All I can do is use my fist. Taijutsu is my thing. He's a jounin so taijutsu is a bad idea. If I don't have a jutsu that can beat him then I can't do anything. The only thing left is outwitting him but…"

"But like you said you can't outwit him," Sakura muttered. "I don't know any jutsu except the ones we're taught at the Academy. I…I also suck at taijutsu. I had one of the highest grades when it came to books."

Naru looked at Sasuke with expectation.

He sighed. "I'm alright in all three but I don't have the dope's monstrous strength," Naru glared at him and he glared right back at her. "Fine. I…I'm also not as smart as Sakura."

Sakura flushed red at the compliment and she opened her mouth to say something but one irritated sigh from Naru and the pink-haired hair regained her composure. It was good to know that maybe there might be hope for her teammate. God knew she didn't want to spend the next how many years complaining about her or getting into fights about her attitude.

"Since we said that, what do we do now?" Sakura asked, looking at the blonde in curiosity.

Naru shrugged her shoulders. "Iruka-sensei said they put us together to balance the team's strength right?" the two of them nodded and she continued. "And from what we heard from each other, the other have something we want."

"So what? Are you suggesting we work together?" Sakura asked, frowning.

The blonde nodded her head, giving a huge smile at her teammates. "Yup. You said it yourself chances of any of us defeating him is zero but if we work together, chances goes higher doesn't it? Or is my math wrong? Anyways, I just want to pass this exam. I want to pass it so badly that I'll discard any dislike I have of the pair of you…what about you guys? Can you forgive me for what I did last year? I'll buy lunch as an apology for that prank I did last year to the two of you. So what about it?"

Both Sasuke and Sakura stared at her. Sasuke was the first to nod his head and Naru knew it would be only a few seconds before the other female would do so. If there were one thing she knew about fangirls, they wouldn't pass up an opportunity to spend time with their crush.

Predictably, Sakura nodded her head with hearts in her eyes.

Grinning, the blonde threw her hands over her teammates shoulder and proceeded to drag them to her favorite ramen stand. Not once did the three of them notice the silver-haired jounin watching them or the smile on his face at the three of them.

* * *

><p>The darkness of the training ground made Naru wonder for the second time that day why Kakashi had to make them come so early in the morning. Rubbing her eyes and letting out a yawn, the blonde wondered if he could be a normal person and say that they could come at nine o'clock in the morning and not five. Who the hell woke up at five anyway?<p>

Definitely not her.

"Good morning," Naru muttered, noticing her two sleepy teammates. "How long have you guys been here?"

"Ten minutes," Sakura answered, rubbing her eyes as she struggled to stand up. Nodding her head, Naru sat down on the grass floor and closed her eyes. Maybe if she slept for a couple of minutes then she would be ready to go. The plan depended on the three of them being in the best condition as they can be.

"What about you, Sasuke?"

"Twenty."

"…I don't even want to know how you can wake up so early," Naru grumbled. Sasuke smirked, opening his mouth to say some kind of retort but the retort was replaced with a yawn. Okay so maybe Sasuke was also tired like them. Naru struggled to keep herself from yawning or sleeping in the comfy grass. This was a huge problem. All three of them were tired and Kakashi was going to come any minute.

"Hey Naru…do you think the plan will work?" Sakura asked, biting her lips as the blonde struggled to keep her eyelids from closing.

"You tell me? You're good in strategy," Naru answered, pausing to let out a yawn. "Through you're not as good as Shikamaru, now that guy could drive you in a corner."

"Shikamaru?" Sakura asked in disbelief. "That lazy bum? His grades are just as bad as yours."

"Don't insult Shikamaru, he's a great guy," Naru hummed. "You're right his grades are just as bad as mine. It's just that Shikamaru doesn't put any effort. If he wants to, I think he can be the top of the class. It might not look like it but Shikamaru is actually pretty smart. You should never play Shogi with him…the guy doesn't hold back."

Sakura bit her lips and nodded her head, glancing at Sasuke, who was staring at the sleepy blonde. Naru had her stretched her arms and Sakura saw the navel of her teammate. The girl tilted her head, narrowing her eyes at this, glancing at the staring Sasuke and then to her unaware teammate. She shook her head, deciding it was just her imagination. Naru tilted her head at her pink-haired teammate, not knowing why the girl was doing that.

"So? Do you think it'll work?"

"I don't know…do you think he'll hold back?"

"How am I suppose to know? I never met the guy before the meeting so I can't really tell. These types of things aren't my strong suit. Teme, what do you think?"

"Hn."

"You're probably right. He might hold back on us since we're after all genins," Naru said, frowning at the dark-haired boy. Sakura looked at them in confusion. Her green eyes flickered to the blond and then to her crush, who simply stared hard at the river, before going back to the smiling blond. For as long as Sakura could remember, the blonde had always been able to translate what he was saying and she wondered for a brief moment if the two of them were close.

No, what was she thinking Sasuke didn't have any friends.

"So how was your day, yesterday?" Naru asked, staring at Sakura. "Did you do anything interesting, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura blinked her eyes before smiling widely. "I read a couple of books and helped my mom cooked. Oh and I talked to Ino-pig! She's so jealous that I'm with Sasuke-kun!"

"Oh? What's wrong with Shikamaru and Choji?"

"Have you met them?"

"Well I used to skipped class with them along with Kiba so yeah," Naru answered dryly and the pink-haired girl had the decency to flush red. "Why do you look so red? Anyways, she is in good hands with them. Shikamaru is smart and Choji is a real softie as long as you don't insult him. Then again, the two of them could be so unmotivated."

"Is there anyway to motivate them?" Sakura asked.

"Of course, tell Choji you buy him food if he does what you ask and Shikamaru, just say you tell his mother."

"Just that?"

"Of course…doesn't Ino know that?"

Sakura tilted her head, looking at her thoughtfully before shrugging her shoulders. Naru simply tilted her head before shaking her head. It wasn't her business. Ino would simply have to learn how to deal with them just as she had to learn how to deal with her teammates. She spread her arms and legs out, staring up at the sky that was starting to light up. How long would it be before their sensei would come and they could start the exam? She was excited about what was to come and of her team's plan.

It was going to work. There was nothing that could stop it from failing! Absolutely nothing! How could it fail? The three of them put a lot of thought into it. What could possible make it fail?

In the coming hours, the blonde would realize just how stupid she had been for being overconfident of their ability but for now, the rest of the day was bright and she was happy for the first time in her life.

* * *

><p>"Good morning guys!"<p>

"YOU'RE LATE!" Naru and Sakura yelled, glaring at the older man. Sasuke simply shot the man a dirty look.

Kakashi simply shrugged his shoulder, chuckling at the disgruntled expressions of the two female preteens. A few minutes later the genin-to-be found themselves in front of three training stumps. One of which Kakashi placed an alarm clock on. The three of them peered their eyes at the alarm clock, raising their eyebrows at him.

"Ok, it's set for noon," Kakashi informed them. A jingling sound rang throughout the silent training ground as silver-haired man raised his arm. "Here are two bells. Your task is to take these from me before the time's up. Those who don't have a bell by noon…get's no lunch," his eye that usually seemed lax now seemed to hummed in happiness as he heard three stomach grumbled.

"I'll not only tie you to one of those stumps but I'll also eat right in front of you."

The blonde crossed her arms and muttered, "Great he's a sadist."

Sakura and Sasuke nodded their heads in agreement. All three of them glared at their smiling sensei, who seemed to have too much joy at their irritation. What kind of man had they been signed to? If this was what he was like now then Naru had a bad feeling of what he was going to be like when he actually trained them? And why did they only have two bells?

"You only have to get one bell," Kakashi jingled the bells to emphasize this. "There are only two, so one of you will definitely be tied up to the stump," his eye took a dark tint and the three genins had a bad feeling of what he had to say next. "The person who doesn't take a bell fails so at least one of you will be sent back to the Academy."

Naru gulped at this piece of information. This was bad. She couldn't work with them now. There was no way in hell would she allow herself to work with them if it meant this. She couldn't let herself fail this exam. This wasn't something they had expected to happen. All of the scenarios they came up with, had never mounted to this idea that only two of them would pass.

The three of them had done the math and figured since only nine people would pass then that meant three teams would pass. After all the teams were divided up into threes. Now hearing this, it might not be the case.

Well she learnt her lesson. Never again would she try to do math ever again on trying to figure out how only nine could pass ever again. Nope, no way. Next time, she was going to go with her gut and not with logic. Iruka was wrong in saying that logic was better than her with going with instinct.

Glancing at her teammates, it seemed like the two of them came to the same conclusion. They would need to discard their original plan because none of them wanted to go back to the Academy. Going back was going to be humiliating and the last thing she wanted was that.

She spent so much of her life there, there was no way in hell was she going back to that hellhole.

No, she was going to try to outwit this guy by herself.

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you for reading.<strong>

**I hope that you enjoyed this chapter.**

**I would love to hear about your thoughts on this chapter.**


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